How can I train my apartment dog to use a grass pad indoors?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is going to take several weeks to months to train her to a new substrate preference. Carry her to the same patch of grass each time and keep her on a leash. Give her 10-15 mins to go to the bathroom. You can also carry her poop and put it on the grass or put a rag you previously used to clean up her pee so she can smell her scent. When she goes verbally praise her and give her a great treat then play with her outside for 10 mins. If she does not go, then she either goes in to the crate or is leashed to an adult until you can take her out again in 15-30 mins to try again. She can not come out of the crate or be off a leash until she goes outside. All bedroom doors need to be close and she should be gated from wandering off to go somewhere in the house. Do not use negative reinforcement if she goes in the house. Train her to ring a bell to notify you she needs to go out. The key is to always know where she is and to not allow her to have the opportunity to go inside. She can be allowed to be unsupervised once there has been 3 months of no accidents in the house. As a side note I found the beagles are the hardest to train. Especially if they were rescued from a lab or hoarding situation or grew up crated. I hope this helps and I wish you all the very best!

If you want her to go potty outside only, I would remove the potty pads as this is likely just confusing her. Giving her the option of both may confuse her as to where the appropriate place to go potty is. Instead, taking her out every 1-2 hours, and establishing a routine of going out after eating, drinking, playing, waking up, etc, can help get her used to the fact that outside = go potty time, along with your treats and rewards. If she has an accident inside, moving her outside to let her finish is best, as well as using an enzymatic cleaner to remove any residue and discourage going potty there again. I'm also attaching a few articles that may help! https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-housetrain-your-dog-or-puppy-using-a-potty-cue/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/top-5-tips-to-potty-train-your-dog-young-and-old/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/5-common-housetraining-mistakes/

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It will take time to teach an older dog to go indoors. I would take the pad outside and put it on the ground. See if he will use it outside. If he poops and pees on it, bring it indoors and leave it there soiled for a little bit. So he can see it and smell the elimination. Use praise and treats when he uses the pad outdoors and then when he uses it indoors. Start with the pads close to the door to the outside and then gradually move it to your desired location. Use whatever phrase you use to encourage him to go "do your business," etc. Use a leash to let him sniff the pad. It will take tome to retrain him. Dogs like their routines. Be patient and positive! Good luck!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is a matter of patience and persistence. I would continue to carry him out onto the grass and keep him on a leash on the grass until he goes and then reward him with a treat. You might also consider purchasing a product called Fresh Patch, which is a patch of sod in a cardboard container that you place on the ground and is used as an area where Jasper can go to the bathroom in the house or on the patio. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns!

You can try an attractant spray on the pads indoors. When it is time to go, spray it on the pad and lead him to it and wait. Once he urinates on the pad, offer profuse praise and a small reward. Be consistent and eventually, he will use the pads indoors when needed. To keep him going outside, offer praise and a small reward each time he urinates or defecates in the designated area outdoors.

Well, you have one heck of an undertaking to try to train 3 puppies at once. Housetraining a puppy is not as easy as you may think, and there are many things that can affect how easily a puppy is housetrained. Unfortunately, training multiple puppies at once and training to an indoor surface are all particular challenges with housetraining a puppy. I am attaching a link to a handout below with very detailed information about housetraining. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2421 And this is an article on housetraining pitfalls. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2461 I will say that it is often easier to train puppies to a fake grass surfaces outside, then move that surface inside. That will train the puppies not to urinate or defecate anywhere else inside the house which can be a huge challenge with smaller dogs. So, my best suggestion would be to take the puppies outside to urinate and defecate, but to place the fake grass outside so they associate that with an appropriate area to urinate and defecate. Only once they are complely house trained would I start bringing the fake grass into the house (which will likely be a couple of months). If you do it too quickly, you will risk them always going in the house in inappropriate places. If taking them outside isn't an option for whatever reason, the only suggestion I would have is to confine them to an area that only contains fake grass (using a kennel or an X-Pen instead of the entire room). Again, the idea is that they never go anywhere except on the grass, so they won't have accidents in other areas of the house. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and gives you some ideas. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I honestly would recommend using Fresh Patch. I've had so many clients have success stories with potty training their puppy because of this product. It is basically a patch of grass that you order online that comes in a cardboard box that auto-ships to you to replace the used one. I would look into this and try it out to see if it helps more than the puppy pad. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.